Driver dies of injuries from crash

BANGOR – One of the two Hampden men injured last week when their delivery trucks collided in a Hampden intersection died late Tuesday.

Donald Carney, 57, who was ejected from the passenger side window of his panel truck during the crash, died Tuesday night from head injuries he suffered in the Jan. 7 crash, Hampden police confirmed Wednesday.

Carney initially was listed in serious condition at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, however, his condition was downgraded to critical the next day. According to Sgt. Dan Stewart of the Hampden Police Department, the specific cause of Carney’s death was blunt trauma to his head.

Stewart said that Frank Sonia, 38, who suffered broken ribs in the accident, was released a few days after the accident.

The accident occurred when Sonia reportedly failed to stop for a red light at the intersection of Coldbrook Road and Route 202 and struck Carney’s truck nearly head-on.

A reconstruction of the accident by a state police specialist, which is still pending, ruled out speed as a factor. Road conditions also were discounted as a potential cause.

Stewart said that because the accident resulted in a fatality, the accident report, reconstruction report and other material would be forwarded to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office.

Carney was a Bucksport High School graduate, attended Husson College and was a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, according to his obituary. At the time of the accident, Carney was a sales distributor for Little Debbie Snack Cakes. Before that, he was a regional sales supervisor for Country Kitchen.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and son, William.

The obituary suggests that those who wish to remember Carney in a special way may make contributions in his memory to an educational trust fund established for his son, care of Bangor Savings Bank, attention Barak Gurney, 3 State St., Bangor 04401.